


Little Steps

by Shapeshifter99



Series: Daemons of Sleepy Hollow [4]
Category: His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman, Sleepy Hollow (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Daemons, Episode: s01e05 John Doe, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-05
Updated: 2016-01-05
Packaged: 2018-05-11 20:29:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,363
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5640901
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shapeshifter99/pseuds/Shapeshifter99
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ichabod's daemon finally concedes and tells Abbie her name. Set during season 1 episode 5.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Little Steps

**Author's Note:**

> Been a while since I've written one of these! More like a rewrite than a truly original piece, sorry guys!
> 
> Abbie's daemon-Visur-Bengal tiger  
> Ichabod's daemon-Adfellida-Welsh/American polecat mix  
> Thomas' daemon-Unnamed-Unsettled

Ichabod’s daemon finally revealed her name on the long, painful walk back to the Roanoke colony. Visur was carrying both she and Thomas’ daemon in his jaws, and they swung gently like feeble rabbits caught in a predator’s grip.

  
Abbie knew that Ichabod was grateful for Visur’s help, even though he insisted carrying the boy on his own. Every crooked step he took made Abbie’s throat clench with anxiety and her words became instinctively more flippant as she saw him get worse.

  
When he’d been taken for quarantine earlier, Visur had surprisingly gotten angrier than Abbie. He’d lunged forward, snapping at the daemons of the men who had grabbed Ichabod. His human had subsided after being restrained, despite the strangled “No,” torn from her throat, but the tiger daemon was almost trembling with fury and worry as they sedated Ichabod and his daemon.

  
Now that he was limping along in front of them and his daemon hung limply in Visur’s jaws, they couldn’t help but wonder if it might have been better to leave them at the quarantine zone.

  
_But the water’ll save them,_ Visur’s thoughts whispered in her mind, an echo of her own. _It has to._

  
“Talk to me, Crane,” Abbie said sharply, noticing that Ichabod was falling behind. “Keep your mind off the pain.”

  
“We saw Katrina.” The words were weak, and not Ichabod’s. His daemon stirred slightly in Visur’s hold, her normally sharp and bright eyes dulled from the plague. “When we were unconscious. She explained why we weren’t able to find where she is.”

  
“Why?” Abbie said steadily, though her tension was easing slightly now that she was speaking.

  
“She’s in some kind of purgatory,” Crane explained, his voice wheezy. “For souls left hanging in the balance. Caught between good and evil.”

  
“Ichabod...” His daemon’s words trailed off into a mumble.

  
Crane hesitated, and Abbie promptly took Thomas from him. The look he shot her was grateful, even though she knew his pride was stung.

  
“What is it, my love?” he said gently, reaching out so that she would fall into his arms when Visur released her. The words of endearment made Abbie paused—Ichabod was rarely affectionate in public, especially with his daemon. The idea that he didn’t care because of their dire situation rang in Abbie’s head like a clanging bell.

  
They had a hushed conversation that Abbie and Visur ignored by helping Thomas and his daemon along. The poor creature was a mouse, dangling by her tail from Visur’s mouth.

“Lieutenant, Visur,” Ichabod said after a few more minutes spent trudging through the woods. The two looked over their shoulders, back at their pale-faced companion and his huddled daemon.

  
“What’s wrong, Crane?” Abbie said, her voice taught.

  
Ichabod shook his head, and his daemon unwound from the ball she was in. “Nothing’s wrong,” she said, enunciating carefully. Her eyes were even more dazed than before, and Abbie felt the sudden lurch of worry in Visur’s stomach. “But... Ichabod and I have decided that since you two have been helping us so diligently, and that if we are going to be partners... It is only right that you know my name.”

  
The sentiment was sweet, sure, but Abbie’s senses lit up like fire at the new alarm bell. _Oh God, she’s saying this because she doesn’t think they’re going to make it._  
“We assure you that we are not planning on giving up,” Ichabod said hurriedly, as if reading her mind. “But we realize now that should we pass on without having told you, we would most definitely regret it.”

A low rumble ignited in Visur’s chest, but it was one of affection rather than anger. “You don’t need to do that,” he managed to say around Thomas’ daemon. “If it makes you uncomfortable, it wouldn’t be fair.”

 

“We don’t mind,” Abbie added insistently, shifting slightly so she could hold the boy upright better.

  
Ichabod sighed at the same time as his daemon, but her eyes were glittering with determination. “My name is Adfellida,” she said. “There, now you know.”

  
Visur rolled his eyes, but Abbie’s chest was filled with warmth at the same time as his. Her eyes met Ichabod’s and he gave her a tentative smile. She knew what the reveal was meant to be—a symbol of trust. And it was definitely working.

  
She grinned back, only to see a flicker of pain cross the colonial man’s face as he stopped and leaned forward.

  
“Crane,” she said warningly, but at the same time Thomas became limp in her arms and she was dragged to the ground.

  
Despite being in obvious pain, Crane lurched forward onto his knees and immediately began to inspect Thomas’ face, his fingers dancing over the boy’s feverish skin to see if he was alright. Adfellida pattered towards Visur, who lowered his head to place Thomas’ daemon gently on the ground.

  
“We’re losing them,” she hissed as she curled around the tiny form.

  
Abbie immediately checked Thomas’ pulse. “It’s weak, but he still has a heartbeat.” Seeing Ichabod’s distress, she leaned towards him. “We have got to keep moving,” she said sympathetically. “We’re almost there.”

  
“I’m sorry,” he said in reply, his eyes fluttering. “But I feel a little faint.”

  
A deeper worry took root in Abbie’s mind. She’d been anxious about getting Thomas and his daemon to the colony in time, but she wouldn’t be able to do that without Ichabod’s help.

 

“You go on to Roanoke,” he said suddenly, pushing at her slightly with his hand. “Send the colony back for us.” Adfellida picked Thomas’s daemon and crawled to Ichabod, curling up at his knee.

  
“We are not leaving,” Visur growled.

  
“We can’t make it without you,” Abbie added earnestly.

  
Adfellida laughed slightly. “Of course you can,” she replied.

  
“All the trees look the same to me!” Abbie insisted, leaning forwards to look Crane in the eye. He puffed out a laugh as well, though it was little more than a gasp.

  
“I’m sure your daemon could lead you to them,” Adfellida scoffed.

  
Visur’s tail swished in pride, but Abbie put a hand on his flank to settle him and remind him of the gravity of the situation. An idea struck her, and she rifled through her bag, pulling out a syringe.

  
She showed it to Ichabod with a triumphant grin. “I think all you need is a little boost.”

✥

In the end, they made it to Roanoke, thanks to the shot of adrenalin that Abbie had used on Ichabod. But she had to admit that the colony disappearing was a little more bizarre than she had anticipated.

  
“You know,” she said after a moment as they stared at the old concave area that had held the water to cure the plague. “We know it’s been hard to… adjust.”

  
Ichabod and Adfellida, who was once again perching on her human’s shoulder without any problem, turned to look at her.

  
“For a moment there, we even thought you might stay in the colony,” she admitted, her eyes skittering away from their gazes.

  
“But,” Visur said. “You two decided to tell us your name, Adfellida.” The word was beautiful when spoken aloud, and the polecat’s eyes blinked when she heard it. “And you two have already made leaps and bounds into the future despite everything. So that’s why you need to believe us when we say that you two belong in Sleepy Hollow.”

  
“In the here and now,” Abbie’s voice was quiet and intense as she stared at them both. This ridiculous, lanky colonial man and his bizarre, private daemon. Her words struck a chord within them, she could tell.

  
There was a moment of shared silence, and for a heartbeat Abbie felt her chest tighten as she wondered if they’d said too much. But at least Adfellida spoke.

  
“Well, then…” She turned slightly. “Ichabod, what say you that we go home?”

  
Crane’s eyes were alight with something close to curiosity as he stared at Abbie and Visur, as if he were seeing something new for the first time, but he eventually nodded with a slight smile.

  
And that was how Abbie and Visur finally got introduced to Adfellida properly.


End file.
